Charm will take you a long way. As necessary as skill and competence might be, often the person who gets the job is the most charismatic and not the most competent. While this goes for any gig, it is especially true in the world of politics. Hell, just look at Donald Trump.
Fenriz is one of the most beloved figures in all of extreme music. As half of Darkthrone, he’s responsible for some of the most captivating and important metal ever created. His pitch-black pedigree is bolstered by his solo work in Isengard and dark ambient project Neptune Towers.
Music aside, Fenriz is often viewed as the cultural ambassador of black metal. His welcoming, jovial nature stands in striking contrast to the genre’s dark notoriety. Look no further than the Twitter account HeyHeyItsFenriz for evidence, where the black metal legend will help get every weekend started right.
— Hey, hey! It's Fenriz (@are_you_having) May 5, 2023
Given his magnetic personality, it’s not entirely surprising that he’d be asked to run for his local city council in 2016. It’s also not surprising that he agreed to the suggestion out of politeness, even though he was outspoken about not wanting the job (he went as far as to put up campaign posters featuring a picture of him holding his cat with the caption “Don’t Vote For Me”). All things considered and despite his best efforts, the black metal legend won.
He told Clryvnt at the time: “I’m in the local papers because I got voted in as a politician – involuntarily, I might add. So, I’ve got some support, I guess. But Kolbotn is a tiny place, maybe 9,000 people.
Asked if he could decline the role, Fenriz replied: “No, if you get voted in, you have to stay in that position for four years. And then you can pull out. But I’m used to these sort of long-term commitments.
“Basically, they called and asked if I wanted to be on the list of backup representatives. I said yeah, thinking I would be, like, 18th on the list and I wouldn’t really have to do anything.
“They just need a list to be able to – well, it’s hard to talk local politics in another language. My campaign was a picture of me holding my cat saying, ‘Please don’t vote for me.’ But people just went nuts.
“After the election, the boss called me and told me I was a representative. I wasn’t too pleased, and I’m not too pleased about it. It’s boring. There’s not a lot of money in that, either, I can tell you.”
The 10 Nicest People In Hard Rock + Heavy Metal
Satyricon Accepts that 'Church-burnings & murder, they’re part of our history'
The 40 Greatest Metal Drinking Songs of All Time